Monday, November 8, 2010

This beer breaks a lot of rules! It's based on a 9th Century Finnish recipe and believe you me - you haven't had a beer like this one lately. The strong unique flavor of this beer is a love it or hate it taste. Does the Better Beer Authority love it or hate it?

Partial Transcript: "On Tap -- Sah'Tea

Hi. I'm James Knott and today we are talking about Sah'tea from the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Delaware. The brewery is known for experimenting with exotic and historic styles of beer and this brew falls into this category.

Sah-Tea is based on a 9th Century farmhouse ale from Finland called Sahti -- spelled S-A-H-T-I. The beer is 9% ABV, has 6 IBUs and is brewed with German Weizen yeast. There are several things that set this beer apart from many modern beers. Juniper berries are used as a bittering agent.

19th Century brewers had to us hot rocks to boil the wort since they couldn't boil their brews over a fire in a wooden barrel. Dogfish Head continues the tradition and boils the wort with white hot river rocks that founder Sam Caligione says adds a "carmelly, earthy" flavor to the beer.

Finally, the beer is finished by adding a sort of tea at the end of the boil made with black tea, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and black pepper.

Q&A

Sah'Tea gets a (???) on the BBA scale. Is this beer too far off the beaten path for your tastes? Let us know in the comment section. Thanks to Dave for bringing us the beer all the way from the Delmarva peninsula.

And, quick note, we'd like to take a moment to finally congratulate Chef on his engagement to part-time BBA camera woman and telepromptress Beth. Congratulations. Thanks for watching. I'm James Knott and this is your Better Beer Authority."